Prashant Kishor’s latest prediction: A Congress rout in Gujarat and Himachal polls

Weeks after he declined a Congress offer to join its prestigious Empowered Action Group, Prashant Kishor has created ripples by making a disheartening prediction — an “impending electoral rout” — for the party in the two critical assembly elections scheduled to be held later this year.

Kishor, India’s most sought-after poll strategist tweeted on Friday, calling the Congress’s #UdaipurChintanShivir a pointless exercise without any outcome.

He tweeted: “I’ve been repeatedly asked to comment on the outcome of #UdaipurChintanShivir In my view, it failed to achieve anything meaningful other than prolonging the status-quo and giving some time to the #Congress leadership, at least till the impending electoral rout in Gujarat and HP!”

Kishor’s sharp tweet can be hurting for Congress, especially as it comes a day after Hardik Patel from Gujarat left the party criticising its top leadership.

Not even a month ago, the Congress’s bid to collaborate permanently with Prashant Kishor, by giving him a party post, had failed. The I-PAC founder had made a detailed action plan to rescue the oldest party in view of the series of assembly elections and the general elections later in 2024.

Also read: Congress has hit nadir; it needs a gargantuan reboot to take on BJP

However, he reportedly refused to accept the party’s offer to join Congress’s “Empowered Action Group”. According to Kishor, being in the group would not allow him any authority under the party’s constitution.

Weeks ago, after he had declined the Congress proposal, Kishor had revealed his thoughts through a tweet. If the party wants to restore its power, “it needs leadership and collective will to fix the deep rooted structural problems through transformational reforms” and not Prashant Kishor, he had said then.

While openly criticising the Congress during the past few months, Kishore also said that the party still holds the key to change political equations if it makes calculated alliances. It can still make things difficult for BJP and Modi in 2024.

Also read: Prashant Kishor’s ‘magic formula’ may not work in Bihar

The Congress, after back to back poll defeats since 2014, had been extensively discussing “hard decisions”. The party sources also talked about reforms being undertaken during Udaipur’s three-day strategy meet, but steered clear of any dramatic decisions like a leadership overhaul.